CARSON, Calif. – Sooner or later, Landon Donovan is going to find the back of the net, but just when he does remains a question mark for the 31-year-old attacker and the rest of the LA Galaxy. But he hopes that the breakthrough comes this weekend against Sporting Kansas City.
The Galaxy attacker started a pair of matches last week against C.F. Monterrey and FC Dallas and has appeared in all four of LA's fixtures since returning from his hiatus from the sport. Following training on Thursday, Donovan admitted that he was feeling confident heading into Saturday’s match.
“I feel last week was really good for me personally, this has been a good week of training and my hope is that this is the week that it all finally comes together,” said Donovan. “I’m a lot more comfortable and a lot more confident. My touch is back naturally so I’m not really focusing on it anymore so I can focus on other things on the field and that’s when I’m at my best. So I’m hopeful this will be the week that it comes together.”
Donovan also addressed the status of the U.S. Under-17 side who failed to qualify for the 2013 U-17 World Cup with a defeat to Honduras last week in Panama. The defeat marked the first time in 14 tournaments that the Americans failed to qualify. Donovan’s commentary is not random as his career truly took flight in the 1999 U-17 World Cup in New Zealand when he was awarded the tournament’s Golden Ball trophy as the tournament’s MVP for the fourth-place American side.
“It's sad for those players and for [head coach] Richie Williams, because it's such an awesome experience and opportunity. I'm sad for those kids, that they don't get a chance to experience it. For me, it was some of the best memories of my life,” said Donovan. “It's disappointing. At the same time, there's no question with Olympic qualifying, 20s and 17s, we need to take a pretty honest look at what's going on, and we all have to do a better job. That falls on all of us. It's not one coach or a few coaches or certain players, it's everybody who's involved in soccer in this country. We need to take a look at ourselves and do a better job. No question.”
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